The present invention is generally directed to a method for testing mirrors and, more particularly, to a method and process for testing mirrors for compliance with regulatory requirements using artificial visualization techniques.
Many types of vehicles are statutorily or regulatorily required to have various rear view and other types of mirror systems. School buses, in particular, pose a special challenge. In addition to the usual complement of mirrors, they are required to include so-called cross-view mirrors which are typically highly convex mirrors that are mounted on the front fenders of the school bus. Each such mirror is capable of providing views both alongside of the bus and over a portion of the front space as well. A pair of such cross-view mirrors mounted on the right and left-hand corners of the front fenders provides a full panoramic view alongside the sides and the front space faced by the driver of the bus.
Cross-view and rear view mirrors must be certified to comply with strict regulatory requirements. One such a requirement comprises the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard FMVSS 111 regulations. The certification process is quite detailed and laborious. It involves the placement of a series of cylinders of a specified size alongside and in front of the bus at precisely prescribed distances from the bus in a prescribed arrangement. Each of a pair of cross-view mirrors must be capable of reflecting an image of a certain size of the cylinders for the mirror to be certified as being in compliance.
The test itself requires the mounting of prototype mirrors on the bus, the driving of a bus to a test site, the placement of the cylinders and the gathering of data. If the criteria for certification are not met, the mirror assembly, the mirror surface contour or the overall size of the mirror must be redesigned and the entire test repeated. Yet, this laborious and time intensive process has been in use for decades by the industry and still is used today.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for facilitating the certification process for mirrors.
It is another object of the invention to provide a more efficient and speedier process for the design and testing of mirrors.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a mirror testing facility that has a greater integrity and that permits third parties to verify and easily confirm the test results obtained by another party.
The foregoing and other objects of the invention are realized with the method and process of the invention which serves to qualify and certify the field of view coverage of mirror systems for compliance with predetermined criteria, comprising the steps of:
defining to a first software facility the dimensions and physical configuration of a vehicle;
adding a definition and location of a prototype mirror having a reflecting surface mounted to the vehicle;
supplying to the first software facility data which defines the shape of the prototype mirror;
coupling with the first software facility a second software facility that traces light rays to synthesize and model an image reflected from the reflecting surface of the prototype mirror;
supplying to the first software facility data which define a plurality of physical objects placed around the vehicle at predefined distances and locations relative to the vehicle; and
certifying that a mirror is in compliance based on the modeled appearance in the prototype mirror of the physical objects.
Other aspects of the invention implicate software facilities that enable the changing of mirror surfaces while the test is being performed to optimize the mirror""s shape, or modeling movement of the vehicle relative to the physical objects and calculating optimal mirror positions and orientations on a mirror pole that is mounted to the vehicle.
It is a particular advantage of the invention to facilitate the certification and testing of cross-view mirrors.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.